Content about agriculture

Today food conversations are too fragmented and many times contentious. Danielle Nierenberg and FoodTank aim to bring the conversations of food to the forefront through digital channels, live events with large media channels (like the New York Times), and conversations with groups while eating a meal.

Today food conversations are too fragmented and many times contentious. Danielle Nierenberg and FoodTank aim to bring the conversations of food to the forefront through digital channels, live events with large media channels (like the New York Times), and conversations with groups while eating a meal.

How agriculture is part of the environment and what effects are occurring?

How Do We Feed A Growing World Without Destroying The Planet? - Dr. John Foley - University of Minnesota , Institute of the Environment, from the Leman Pork Conference, September 18-21, 2010, RiverCentre, St Paul, MN, USA.

Dr. Foley brings together data and stories on how agriculture is part of the environment and what effect are occurring. He also points out some of the myths about agriculture's impacts plus some of the realities.

California farmers use 50,000 to 75,000 tons of plastic per year. Americans do less recycling and ship plastic trash to China. China wants better quality plastic and has setup a Green Fence policy. This will force the USA to upgrade facilities to handle plastic better so China will buy it.

What does happen to the plastic bottles and raspberry containers you put out by the curb every Thursday? Interestingly, they are sent to Chinese recycling facilities. China is now only accepting high-value plastic, and California’s farmers are grappling with what to do with the 50,000 to 75,000 tons of plastic they use each year.

The word subsidy lumps many forms of agriculture support into one word when it is really many types of support.

Subsidies are a component of agriculture monetary flows in pretty much all developed countries around the world. The reasons for having a subsidy varies, though many types of subsidies are in place to help guarantee some form of payment for an agricultural crop in the event of a disaster, poor market prices, or foreign competition.

In the United States, subsidies tend to be lumped into a single term but there are actually several different kinds of subsidies.

What did you do? We all hear about careers and getting a job and doing something. But how do you find that career if you are not sure about anything? These resource links are stating points for discovering and researching agricultural jobs and careers.

What did you do? We all hear about careers and getting a job and doing something. But how do you find that career if you are not sure about anything? These resource links are stating points for discovering and researching agricultural jobs and careers.

Winter months for the many in agriculture are a time catchup on training and meet up with friends and colleagues. The pork industry is no exception. Coming up in January are several key events.

The Minnesota Pork Congress and the Iowa Pork Congress are in a few weeks. Both events offer an opportunity to meet up with friends and colleagues, learn about what the economics of 2013 might look like, and to learn some new information to help improve your farm operations.

How do food and consumers come together? Why does the media zero in on agriculture issues? What does being authentic really mean? The 2012 Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit, Real Farmers Real Food, provides insight and offers actions you need to take in order to reach those 98% of Americans not involved in agriculture.

The 2012 Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit, Real Farmers Real Food, Celebrating Tradition and Technology, focused on effective communication with the consumer and how to understand what the consumer wants and needs to know.

#AgChat is three years old and many social media things have changed. Are farmers and ranchers changing as quickly?

Social Media and Agriculture This is the third anniversary of the #AgChat twitter conversation and to celebrate, the AgChat Foundation (@AgChatFound, celebrating it's second anniversary!) gave away a cheese cake from Muddy Paws Cheesecakes (@MPCheesecake) to an #AgChat convo participant. The winner was Scott Smith (@d_scott) in Corvallis, Oregon.

Without global markets, there is a risk of food distribution being disrupted.

Markets exist to help smooth the flow of information and make the future more predictable. But sometimes it takes a Ph.D. to figure out what is going on when corn goes above $8 and you are sitting on several thousand bushels.

How are farmers connected to dietitians and where do dietitians go to connect with farmers?

Food and Ag How are farmers connected to dietitians and where do dietitians go to connect with farmers? This #FoodChat convo brings a panel of registered dietitians together with farmers and consumers to share thoughts on food and health.

What Are Your Farm Valentines? Love is in the air! Farmers are people too and have interests outside of agriculture. But farming is part of their life. How do they share their love of agriculture with a significant other and what are the trade offs each partner might have to make to live together happily?

According to the DairyCo (UK) Milkbench+ report, the relationship between cost of production and profit is much stronger than many dairies realize. The report states that cost of production is the most significant factor in determining profit.

Milkbench+ analyst Karolina Klaskova says: “Through robust data and statistical analysis we see that the relationship between cost of production and margin is strong.” Ms Klaskova acknowledges that the findings are challenging. “The report raises many issues, including just how difficult it can be to make a profit from milk production,” she says.

David Schmidt, International Food Information Council, highlights the current environment in which consumer / food relationships exist: processed foods are perceived socially, politically, and economically bad; obesity epidemic factors are negative toward food producers; and communication around processed foods are not clear or consistent. From the 2011 Annual Conference of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture, April 11 - 14, San Antonio, TX USA.